The Answer To My Equation
by His World
Summary: After Lilly's grades drop due to Bella rehearsals, she has no choice but to get a tutor. An unexpectedly flirty tutor. LillyxDonald.
1. Chapter 1

Lilly sighed heavily as she sat in Statistics 301. The most recent exam was being passed back.

"Lilly?" The professor called. Reluctantly, Lilly pulled herself out of her seat to the professor's desk. A 54%. She eyed the test grade in defeat. Her grades had taken a heavy beating from all of the Bellas' rehearsals. She felt even worse since the Bellas had not made it past the semi-finals, she'd essentially sacrificed her grades for nothing. Even worse, Mid-terms were in a week and half- there was no way she could catch up that quickly to earn a passing grade.

"Lilly," the professor whispered to her, urging her to come closer for a private chat. "I know you have a lot on your plate, but at this rate you're barely making a D. If you have time, I'd like you to arrange a meeting with the university tutors. And don't worry, it's free, so you should take advantage of it."

After class Lilly trudged back to her dorm room. A tutor? She didn't need a tutor. She fumed as she threw her Stats book onto her desk. Flipping the book open she began to furiously read the same first paragraph three times over. What language was this book in? Latin? Even though she tried her best to pay attention in class, she didn't understand a penny of statistics. Maybe she did need a tutor...

Hesitantly she opened her laptop and maneuvered her way onto the university tutors' page and filled out the tutor request. Class? Stats 301, Difficulty level? She decided to go with hard, Urgency? This was definitely urgent, Date start? Tomorrow at noon...

**Thank you**, the site read, **a tutor will be matched to suit your request**.

Almost immediately an e-mail was sent to her from the university tutors. A tutor had accepted her request to meet tomorrow at the tutor's office in the library.

_That was fast... _She thought, but she supposed the tutors were always on stand-by.

The next day she headed to the library, finding her way to the office on the second floor. Quietly, she slipped into the room. Having been at Barden for half a year, she wasn't all too surprised to see how fancy the office was. It was similar to a doctor's office with a secretary's desk and what looked to be a hallway that contained private rooms for studying. There were students waiting in the red cushy chairs of the main office. The secretary glanced up from her desk and smiled at her, "Lilly Onakurama?"

Lilly nodded in response, knowing no one would be able to hear her speak.

"Please step into room 232, your tutor will be with you shortly." The secretary pointed towards the hallway. Lilly nodded again and followed the instructions.

Room 232 was a small simple square room with a white board and two swivel chairs framing a round table. She took a seat in one of the chairs and began spinning around in it.

"Knock knock~" A familiar voice sang as the door swung open. Lilly turned to see the Treblemaker's infamous rapper grinning at her.

"Donald?" She whispered loudly in shock.

"How you do'in today doll face?" Donald was still grinning as he placed a stack of textbooks and notebooks on the table.

Lilly was speechless, she wasn't at all expecting her tutor to be someone she knew. Heck, she hadn't even expected Donald to be smart enough to even tutor, he seemed like the type to cruise through classes with C's. However, she was thankful. Donald was one of the rare people who could actually hear her. There were a few times backstage when she would crack a joke to the Bellas, who would only look at her in confusion, but sometimes she could hear Donald snickering, repeating the punch line under his breath.

Donald tilted his head at Lilly's silence. "So I heard you were having some treble with Stats 301." The pun shook the Bella out of her state of surprise. She rolled her eyes at him. "You roll your eyes but you know that pun is good."

She shook her head. "Why are you my tutor?"

He shuffled through the books he brought and placed one in front of her. "Baby, you're the student and I'm the math book, you solve all my problems."

"So you tutor girls to use math pick up lines on them?"

He just smiled and winked. "Alright, let's get down to business. Where are you at in class?"

"The very beginning."

"Okay... Wait what?" Donald quickly did a double take.

Lilly sighed heavily. "I don't understand anything that is going on in class, we need to start from the beginning."

Donald's player boy facade immediately dropped. "When is your mid-term?"

"... Two Mondays from now. It's a cumulative test."

Donald nodded. "We've gotta buckle down. How are your grades in your other classes?"

"Fine."

"Alright, we're going to have to shift all your focus onto Stats so you'll be ready, are you alright with spending your free time studying with me?" He pulled out an agenda and they began scheduling times to meet up to study. Lilly was surprised. Donald was unexpectedly serious about tutoring. "Now, Stats isn't something to be intimidated by. There isn't too much to the calculating, it's more about writing and memorizing the proof sentences. You'll get it all down easily if we keep practicing..." Lilly watched, mesmerized as Donald droned on about Stats. "Hey, hey." He snapped his fingers in her face. "I know I'm pretty to look at but we gotta focus."

They studied 30 minutes at a time, with 15 minute breaks in between.

"Hey, hey Lilly." Donald would nudge her every so often. "If you were sin to the 2x and I was co-sine to the 2x, then together we'd make one."

And every time she'd shake her head. He was making her study seriously, but he made sure to keep things light and fun. After about 2 hours their reservation on the room ended, so Donald ended their session.

"Wanna hear something impressive?" He asked her as they left the tutor's office.

"Sure?" She answered hesitantly.

"I can figure out the square root of any number in less than 10 seconds."

"Hmm, that is impressive."

"Want proof? Let's try it on your phone number." He smiled as he waved his phone. For the hundredth time that day, she shook her head with a smile. They exchanged numbers.

"Well? What's the square root of my phone number?" She smirked.

"Oh? Ahm... 94,624."

She looked at him in disbelief. "No way, you're just guessing." Quickly, she opened her calculator app and squared 94,624. It was in fact her number. "Wow... nerd alert much."

She laughed as he made a ridiculous frowning face.

They split ways at the library entrance. Lilly smiled feeling more confident about Stats. As she walked away she felt a nagging feeling to turn around. Succumbing to the nag, she looked over her shoulder to see Donald turning to look over his shoulder at the same time. She halted in her step. He grinned and made a heart with his hands. She shook her head again. Getting tutored by this boy was going to be interesting...

**xxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Someone suggested I write a LillyxDonald so I did... hope that first chapter went well. **

**I'm planning on updating every Saturday, so look forward to it!**


	2. Chapter 2

Without the constant Bella rehearsals, the days passed slowly for Lilly. Not that it was a bad thing- she was glad to actually sleep and have time to brush her teeth in the morning. Just the other week she was up and running at six in the morning with only enough time to gargle some mouth wash.

It had been four days since the start of her tutorship under the flirty Donald. The lady's man seemed to have an infinite number of math pick up lines and puns to throw at her, which surprisingly helped in making the studying feel like less of a chore. The Bella was still shocked at how smart he was. Just the other day when she was reviewing by herself in her room, she almost flipped her desk from realizing that the pick-up lines and puns were actually clever mnemonics to help her memorize definitions and formulas. The boy was flirty, but he was very practical with his flirting.

Normally, they would have their study sessions at the library, in the comfort of the private tutor room or getting "shh"-ed at constantly for attempting to make each other laugh in the quiet section. Today however, Lilly only had time to study during lunch, so they were meeting at the school's all-you-can-eat cafeteria.

"Mmm, our first lunch date." Donald grinned as they got in line to enter the cafeteria. "You sure you don't want me to take you out to a fancy restaurant? We've still got the chance to run back home. You can put on something stunning and I could put on a suit and tie..."

She rolled her eyes. "You want to study at a fancy restaurant? I've only got an hour."

"Well, that's not a no."

"No."

"Feisty!"

The senior was initially stubborn against going to the cafeteria since he didn't have a meal plan, but Lilly was even more stubborn against having him pay for food. She had to assure him many times that she had extra blocks left on her meal plan card to spare. After getting swiped in, the two settled into the designated "quiet area" where other students were studying and munching.

As the acapella pair studied, they took turns watching the belongings as the other got up to grab food. Lilly huffed as she burrowed herself into a practice test. She glanced over at the empty seat next to her. _Weird... _She's was pretty sure Donald had left to get food about 10 minutes ago. It usually only took him 2 minutes to come back with another plate. _Maybe he went to the bathroom or maybe he ran into a friend?_ Noticing her wandering mind, she massaged her eyes with the palms of her hands and narrowed her focus back down onto the math booklet in front of her.

Moments later, the olive-skinned boy was back with another plate. He leaned next to her, shoulder to shoulder, to get a glance at her progress. Absentmindedly, she inhaled deeply catching a whiff of his cologne. She was expecting Axe or some other general cologne boys usually wore, but Donald smelled like some wonderful combination of Nutella and cinnamon.

_Maybe he's eaten so much Nutella that he's becoming Nutella.._. she thought, smiling at the idea of him turning into spoonfuls of the hazelnut spread. _Maybe that's why he's so sweet- oh god, why am I thinking about him like that!? _

Blinking rapidly she mentally kicked herself.

"Where'd you go?" She asked, trying to appear preoccupied by the test.

"Made some waffles."

"Hm..." She grunted understandingly. The cafeteria had a self serve waffle maker, it generally did take about 5ish minutes to make a waffle. Finally finishing the practice test, she looked over at her tutor to find him making a fort of waffles and toothpicks.

"Is that where you are planning to hide from the big bad wolf?"

That earned her a chuckle. "Nah, I'm trying to set the mood so it's like 50 First Dates. You know that part where Drew Barrymore's character is having trouble adding a door and Adam Sandler comes in with a toothpick to help her?" **(A/N: if you haven't seen 50 First Dates, then you should fix that.)**

Lilly nodded, remembering the old movie.

"Well," Donald turned to her, wiggling his eye brows. "I seem to be having problems with adding this door."

The asian could only roll her eyes at him. She smiled when he gave her a sad puppy face until she gave in. Involuntarily, she picked up a toothpick and a piece of waffle. Carefully, she slipped the toothpick into the ceiling of the waffle house, through a square waffle piece and connected it to the waffle floor, effectively making a usable waffle door.

The Bella looked up at the Treble who had a wide smile glued (possibly permanently) onto his face.

"Shut up." She pouted, punching him hard in the arm.

"Ow! This isn't like 50 First Dates at all!" He playfully cried out. A few of the studying students glimpsed up at the two with irritated looks. Apologizing for the noise, the acapella singers settled back down. Lilly made a waffle tower as Donald checked her practice test, rolling pieces of waffle between his fingers for a waffle snowman. They attempted to make waffle cars as Donald reviewed and explained the answers Lilly had gotten wrong. Around 12:45pm, they began packing up since Lilly had class in a nearby building at 1pm. To complete their buffet experience, they headed towards the ice cream machine.

"Aw man... hide!" Lilly suddenly began shuffling backwards.

"What? Why?" Donald halted in his step, looking around for potential threats. Over by the ice cream machine, he noticed a familiar Bella. "Are we hiding from Amy? Aren't you guys friends?"

"If Aubrey finds out I was here with you, she'll kick me out of the Bellas... And I'm pretty sure she is capable of getting away with murder..."

"Heeey! Lilly!" It was too late, Fat Amy had noticed them. Her voice rose above the loud chatter of students in the cafeteria as she made her way over to them.

Understanding the situation, but still a bit confused, Donald only nodded before walking in a different direction, planning on walking around the cafeteria before rounding back to the ice cream machine.

"Was that Donald just now?" The other Bella asked as she approached Lilly.

"What? No? I don't know any Donalds." Lilly quickly responded.

Fat Amy squinted at Lilly, putting a hand to her ear, indicating that she couldn't hear the small asian. Lilly sighed, she was getting too spoiled with Donald being able to hear her. To respond to Amy's question, she could only shake her head.

"I'm pretty sure that was Donald. I can tell by the curls of his hair." The Australian said as she made twirling motions with her fingers above her head attempting to mimic the Treble's hair.

Lilly swallowed hard. She wanted to deny it, say something- anything back, but knew it would be in vain. The blonde noticed the panic on her teammates face.

"Hey don't worry, I won't tell Aubrey." She promised, holding out her pinky. "Besides, I'm here with Bumper."

The quieter Bella raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going to get a burrito and smash it into his punk face." Fat Amy smirked. "I know, I know, it's a waste of food, but I've been hungering revenge ever since the semi-finals."

Donald sighed as he spied on the two Bellas from across the cafeteria.

"Donald?"

The Indian turned to see a surprised Bumper sitting at a table by a corner.

"Ey' what are you doing here Bump?" He greeted his teammate with a fist bump. Normally, seniors didn't own meal plans, so it was a surprise for the two to run into each other at the cafeteria.

"I ahhh...I'm here with a girl." The Treble leader replied with a strange twitch. "Whaaaaat... what are you doing here?"

"A girl?" Donald squinted his eyes skeptically at his friend.

"W-what? I can't be here with a girl?" Bumper leaned back, trying to get out of the strong stare.

Gears were grinding in Donald's head as thoughts fell into place. Bumper was acting too nervous. He was there with a girl. Fat Amy was a girl that Bumper knew. Bumper had Fat Amy's number (he had drunkenly showed it off to Donald during a party).

"Are you here with Fat Amy...?"

"..."

Donald broke out into a laugh as Bumper's face flushed from the neck up.

"Quit it man! Get outta here!"

The beat-boxer nodded with a huge grin as he walked away from the fuming singer. Checking on the girls, he noticed Lilly motioning him over.

"Hey Amy, I just ran into Bumper." He greeted as he stopped by Lilly's side.

"I knew it! It was Donald!" Fat Amy cheered. "I bet I can spot you from a mile away just because of your hair."

Self-conscious, Donald immediately ran a hand through his hair, attempting to find any faults in it.

"Your hair is fine," Lilly assured him, "although, I am worried about how gravity doesn't seem to affect it..."

"Actually, I'm just in shock by your beauty all the time, so every hair in my body is sticking up right now."

Fat Amy watched in amusement as Donald tried to demonstrate with his arm hair while Lilly rolled her eyes at him. Lilly's mouth moved, but Amy couldn't hear a word.

"You're mean..." The Treble replied to the quiet Bella in a disappointed tone, but his smile said otherwise.

"Wait, wait wait. You can hear her?"

"Hm? Yeah, can't you?"

"Awww... I approve. Your kids would be adorable."

The two study mates stared at the straight-forward girl with wide shocked eyes.

"Oh... ah ha... too soon? Or... ah... not together like that? Just friends?"

The wide-eyed pair nodded.

"I... I meant... theoretically or like heeeeey, you know, there's a ...a machine that pops out babies in this cafeteria... If you guys went and got one of those suckers, yeah... that... that kid would be cute." The Australian quickly tried to recover, but failed to do so. "... sorry."

The two were still staring at her in shock.

"Whew... tough crowd..."

Recovering first, Donald looked down at his watch-less wrist in a joking manner. "Oh crap." He suddenly remembered why they had gone to the ice cream machine in the first place. "Lilly, you gotta get to class." He quickly swiped his phone out from his pocket. "You got 2 minutes."

The asian girl was still flustered by Fat Amy's comment, but she mentally pushed herself to grab a cup of ice cream and hastily make an escape.

"See you tomorrow?" Donald called after her.

She turned while walking to nod.

"Sorry..." Amy tried again as they watched Lilly's retreating back.

"It's okay, I'm sure your kids with Bumper will be adorable too."

...

It was 7:25 in the morning when the study pair met up in front of the library. It was the earliest they'd ever met, but they didn't have much of a choice since they had classes all day and Donald had Treble rehearsals at night.

Lilly took a full body skim at the boy. His curly hair looked more tousled than styled, he was wearing just a simple black t-shirt instead of the usual plaid button-up/cardigans he'd wear with the sleeves pulled up to his elbows, and one of his shoelaces were untied. He was obviously exhausted.

"I need coffeeeeee..." The Treble sang out each word loudly. "Do you want to study at Starbucks?"

Lilly mulled over the re-location in her mind. She had enjoyed leaving the library the other day- the plain white walls and soft brown bookshelves were starting to become boring to her, so she nodded. Donald raised both arms in the air to express his happiness as his face held a sleepy smile.

They sat in the far back corner of the campus' Starbucks, ready to hide or duck if a Bella other than Amy appeared. Donald was nursing a hot caramel macchiato while Lilly happily drank green iced tea. She didn't drink coffee, she didn't want to get hooked on to it, like the boy sitting next to her who had a gold membership status with Starbucks.

After an hour of studying had passed, the two had begun playing a game where they took turns in guessing what a customer was ordering. So far, they had failed to correctly guess the drinks of a middle-aged man in a collared shirt, what looked to be a young freshman bundled up in a hoodie that was a size too big, and an older looking student who looked equally as hipster as Donald. It was said boy's turn to guess when a girl wearing a sorority shirt walked in.

"Sorority girl!" He whispered loudly. "Frappuccino! Definitely getting a frap! Probably a mocha-lite!"

The boy silently celebrated when the girl did indeed order a mocha lite frappuccino.

"Nice, how'd you guess that?"

"Most girls I know end up getting fraps because they don't like the taste of regular coffee drinks, but most coffee fraps taste good, even though they don't have much coffee in them in the first place..."

The game continued when a punk looking boy with piercings and tattoos littered on his body walked it.

"Black coffee. Definitely black coffee..."

Donald nodded in agreement. "Black coffee with the souls of every innocent being on the side..."

"Hello, could I get a tall skinny cinnamon dolce latte at 140 please?"

The two almost fell out of their seats.

...

"Alex!" Donald called out loudly as a crowd of students leaving the lecture hall passed by them. They were studying at the student commons. Today's game was to call out a popular name when herds of people passed by to see who would turn their head.

"Try Joe." Lilly urged. She wasn't able to raise her voice, so she was giving names for Donald to try.

"Oh, Joe is a good one. Joe! 'Ey Joe!"

They quickly searched the crowd to see if there was any reaction.

"That girl with the pink backpack looked over at us." Lilly pointed.

"Joe is a weird name to give to a girl..."

The Bella chuckled. "She probably knows a Joe."

They continued studying until another group of students passed by.

"Kevin!"

A boy halted in his steps and looked around. Not seeing anyone he knew, he continued. Donald and Lilly high-fived.

"Try Jessica."

"Yoooo! Jessica!"

A familiar blond girl paused to look around.

"Duck!" Lilly quickly squeaked.

The two seemed to go unnoticed as the girl shrugged and moved on.

"Who was that?" Donald whispered, rising back up against his seat.

"She's a Bella."

"Really? I feel like I've never seen her before..."

...

On the bleachers of the university's outdoor track and football field, the two studied as they watched the football team practice.

"And then the drug dealer would go 'I'm sorry, I can't trust you anymore'. He'll take out his knife and stab little Johnny. The police won't find the body until 5 days later when it washes up on the banks of the river."

Donald stared in horror at Lilly. The stare went on for too long, making Lilly feel uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, that was probably really weird for me to have said..."

"What? No! Just... is that it? What about Suzy? What about the baby!? YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME WITH A CLIFF HANGER!"

Initially, they were competing to see who could come up with the best 'what's happening under the bleachers?' story. Now it had turned into the freshman giving story time to the senior. Lilly breathed a sigh of relief. She had thought she'd gone overboard with the horrific story that would normally have people running from her, but Donald was different. He was still there, encouraging her to continue.

...

Today they were going to meet on the lawn of the quad. Lilly waited for her tutor under the shade of a tree. They were supposed to meet at 10:30am, but she had gotten there 10 minutes ahead of time.

"Boo." A voice spoke into her ear. Surprised, Lilly jumped 10 feet into the air, quickly turned towards the perpetrator, and punched a laughing Donald in the arm.

"Owww!" He whined, rubbing his arm.

"Next time you'll be shedding crocodile tears." She warned putting her dukes up.

"Okay okay." He chuckled.

"What's that?" Lilly noticed the basket in his hand.

"Food for our picnic."

"... Picnic?"

Placing his basket and backpack down, he pulled out a blanket that was hidden under his arm and spread it on the lawn. He sat down on the blanket, then patted the spot next to him, motioning her to sit as well. From his backpack he pulled out the usual textbooks and notebooks. Unsure of what to do, she pulled her notes out as well.

"Like I said yesterday, your mid-term is in two days, so today will be your last day of tutoring. Since we're going to be staying here a while I went ahead and packed lunch and snacks." He patted the basket. "I wanted to make this as relaxing as possible, because you don't want to be too stressed before the exam."

"Do you do this for all the girls you tutor?" Lilly smiled shaking her head.

"Nope. This is actually the first time I've done this. I totally woke up this morning and was like, 'A picnic would be perfect!'"

Lilly could feel a blush crawl up her face, she hoped the shade they were under made it hard to tell she was blushing. Their study session went on as usual, him explaining, observing her do practice problems, and cracking pick up lines while she listened, attempted practice problems, and shook her head at his pick up lines. When they got hungry Donald unpacked his basket of sandwiches and chips. There were various juice packs to choose from since Donald didn't know which one Lilly would like. After picking their flavors, they cut open their pouches and poured them into wine glasses (Donald brought them along to feel fancy). They chatted about the fate of the polar bears and argued about who was better at video games.

"I promise you, I will beat you so hard at Super Smash Bros that your Xbox will red ring from the pain." Donald announced.

"No way, because I'll beat you so hard that your voice will squeak during the ICCA finals."

The beat boxer "ooh"ed as if he was her crew backing her up on dissing himself. It was then that Lilly noticed it. A raging storm. On the other side of the quad she made eye-contact with angry wide eyes. Lilly felt a sliver of terror come upon her.

"Oh no..."

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

Following his tutee's line of sight he spotted the Bella leader, Aubrey, making her way towards them, knocking down and smiting everyone and everything in the way.

"Oh no..." The Treble mimicked.

"What. The. Hell. Is. This." The blond shouted through gritting teeth, enunciating each word. "Lilly, did you forget your oath as a Bella? Just because we aren't in the competition anymore doesn't mean you can up and date a Treblemaker! They don't respect us. Especially this one." She pointed accusingly at the renown lady's man.

"Whoa, whoa, relax Aubrey, we're just studying." Donald defended, waving his hands to the textbooks.

"Oh really? I'm supposed to believe that?" Her words were dripping in venom. "It looks more like a romantic date to me." She turned to Lilly. "Can I talk to you in private?"

"I'd rather die by getting all of my skin slowly peeled off than get yelled at by you." Lilly responded. But of course Aubrey couldn't hear Lilly's tiny voice. The head Bella squinted her eyes at her junior and shook her head, "Nothing. I heard nothing."

"She said she doesn't want to go." Donald translated. "Honestly, this is just a big misunderstanding. I'm tutoring her since your overkill of Bella rehearsals made her grades drop."

Aubrey locked eyes with Donald. He could feel her murdering him repeatedly in her mind.

"If it'll make you feel better I'll say what you want to hear." Donald challenged. "I'm not interested in her like that. I'm strictly a tutor making sure my student is prepared for her mid-term."

Aubrey searched his eyes looking for any traces of lies. "Fine. But I've got my eye on the two of you." Satisfied, she huffed as she strutted away from the two study mates.

When the dark cloud of anger was well gone, the two let out the breaths they were holding.

"I think I saw my life flash before my eyes." Donald whispered.

"I'm sorry about that."

"It's okay. It's not your fault she's a jerk."

Slowly, they transitioned back into studying. They had finished overviewing margins when Lilly decided to voice what was bugging her: "Did you mean what you said to Aubrey?"

"Which part?"

"..." She was hesitant to know his response. "...The 'I'm not interested in her like that' part."

"Oh. Yeah. I meant that."

"...Oh."

"Well, I mean, unless you want me to view you as just another girl I'm trying to woo into bed, then I'm 98.5 percent with a margin of 1.5 percent sure."

"Oh... no... nope. No thanks."

He laughed as she made a disturbed face at him.

"I like how we are. It's easy to talk to you. You're not like the other girls who are only trying to get into my pants. I can just be real with you, ya'know?"

"Hmm... yeah. I like that you can actually hear me. Although, I'd prefer it to be 'a friend helping a friend pass her mid-term' rather than a tutor helping a student."

"Sorry, I don't consider my students as friends. That is highly unprofessional." Donald responded with a pretentious tone as he puffed his chest out and pushed his glasses up with one finger.

"Shut up." Lilly laughed, punching him in the arm again. She laughed harder as he fake cried and attempted to shed real tears.

**...**

**End of chapter. Ha ha, I know I said I'd update on tomorrow, but I got excited. Next update will be on this coming Wednesday.**

**Thanks for all the reviews and follows by the way!**


	3. Chapter 3

This week was the week. The most stressful week of all the weeks. The weeks that had students sleeping in the library and the weak willed crying in the hallways. It was Mid-Term week. And today? Today was the day. It was the day of Lilly's Stats mid-term. She'd be lying to say she wasn't nervous. Frightened even. But Donald believed in her enough to spend a week and a half studying with her, so she supposed she'd have to have at least a little bit of confidence in herself. She'd woken up with no bed hair. Ate a healthy breakfast. Gotten a "good luck" and a pat on the back from her roommate. All her pencils were sharpened and for the fifth time she made sure her calculator was in her bag. It was going to be a good day, she could feel it. Ready to go she took a deep breath and marched out of her room.

"Good morning Rocky, ready to beat this test?" Unexpectedly waiting outside of her dorm was her curly haired tutor.

"I'm gonna pummel it." Lilly smiled as she threw playful punches at Donald who tried to catch them. "What are you doing here Mr. Tutor?"

"I wanted to wish my young grasshopper good luck."

"Ah! Thank you sensei, I will not fail you." They bowed to each other. Passing students gave them weird looks.

Lilly was actually relieved that Donald had showed up to encourage her. It would have been difficult to concentrate if she went into the exam with high doubts.

"I've got a mid-term to get to myself, so I gotta scram. Good luck Lilly."

"Thanks, good luck to you too."

"Man... I wish I was your mid-term, because then I'd be really hard, and you'd be doing me on the desk."

"Get outta here!"

He laughed as he ran away to avoid getting hit. She shook her head as she watched him go.

...

Lilly sat staring at her exam. She was stumped. Inhaling deeply, she circled the question, marking it off as one she would get back to. She was 45 questions into the exam and had already circled 7 that she didn't understand.

Her wrists ached from writing proofs and formulas. Laying her pencil down she, stretched her hands, then pressed her palms to her eyes. They were starting to get sore. She yawned. Then stretched. Then rubbed her eyes again. She laid her head in a hand and picked up her pencil in the other hand, closing her eyes as she twirled the pencil.

_What the hell... _The Bella found herself thinking. _How am I procrastinating during an exam..._

Sighing, she forced herself back to concentrating on the piles of paper in front of her.

_A, C, D... insert numbers into this formula... 45, re-check just in case... B...A...what is the margin of..._

Lilly found herself paused at the margins question.

_"Well, I mean, unless you want me to view you as just another girl I'm trying to woo into bed, then I'm 98.5 percent with a margin of 1.5 percent sure."_

Donald's infectious smile surfaced into her thoughts. Breathing deeply, she found herself missing the nutella-cinnamon-y smell that came with the boy. The way they'd brush shoulders...

The Bella blinked. _What the hell, why am I thinking about that idiot..._

Shaking her head, she went back to the exam, traces of the Treble still in her mind as she pondered over questions that reminded her of his math pick-up lines.

An hour later, Lilly was staring at the last page of the exam. This was it. She was finished with the mid-term. Quietly, she scooted out of her seat, gathered her belongings and handed the exam to her professor at the front of the room. She exchanged a similar hopeful glance with her professor.

"Have a nice spring break Lilly." The professor smiled.

"You too." Lilly responded warmly before leaving the room.

She stopped outside of the room to slowly close the door behind her. Turning, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Sitting with his back against the wall opposite of her door was a smiling Donald looking up at her. "How'd it go?" He asked as he handed Lilly her favorite Starbucks drink.

The Bella was too exhausted from the exam to berate Donald on waiting for her or to interrogate him on how the heck he knew where her class was. "I... I think it went well. I felt like I understood most of the questions and how to answer them. There were a few times when I did get confused. But... I feel confident enough to say I passed."

"Yes!" Donald jumped up and went in for a hug. Surprised by the sudden approach, Lilly punched him in the stomach. The rapper over dramatically fell to the ground gripping his wound.

"Oh crap! Sorry, you shouldn't hug me, I'm not used to close contact stuff like that..."

"It's okay, I should have seen that coming..." He responded with a strained high-pitched voice.

...

Lilly breathed in the fresh spring air as the pair left the academic building. The withered trees were just starting to bloom. Some were ahead of their time, showing off extraordinary shades of green and pink among the still budding trees.

"So, Delta Phi Omega is having a party today at their frat house. Do you want to come along to celebrate finishing your mid-term? There's gonna be Rock-band and Smash Bros." Lilly gave Donald an unsure look. She wasn't exactly one to go to parties- then again, the only real party she'd been to all year was aca-initiation. Bella rehearsals kept her from going to most parties she was invited to. However, she was relieved to be finished with her exam and did want to challenge the Treble at Smash Bros since he'd already predicted his victory. She contemplated a little longer before finally agreeing to go.

Around 10pm, they met up in front of the Treble frat house to head to the party. Initially, Lilly was nervous- she had expected social anxiety, but it quickly faded by Donald's side. He stuck with her and introduced her to people who she shared similar interests with.

"Oi! Craig!" Donald called out to a boy wearing a green shirt with a triforce on it. "Lilly, this is Craig. Craig, this is Lilly." The two mutual friends shook hands. "So Lilly, Craig here thinks that Wind Waker is the worst game in the Zelda franchise so far, what do you think?"

"What?!" Lilly burst out and began arguing video games with Craig.

Donald smiled, Lilly had a small voice, but when she was passionate about something she would raise it. It was quite the treat, as her louder voice held more personality than the soft whispers. He noted that he should debate video games with her more often, just to hear her speak up. The dark-skinned boy jumped slightly as he felt a small hand delicately brush his shoulder. He turned to see a girl smiling at him.

As Lilly let Craig refute her argument, she glanced over to her side at Donald who had sidled off a bit, chatting with a girl. A very touchy girl, who kept brushing his shoulder, leaning towards him.

_Don't focus on them... _She told herself, wanting to block the two out. She felt her shoulders get heavy as she watched him grin at the girl. What was this feeling? Was it... was this jealousy? Why was she jealous? Donald was just her friend... her tutor to be exact.

"Are you okay?" Craig's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." She answered with a small voice.

Craig raised an eyebrow, unable to hear the small girl. She shook her head, and continued their debate with a raised but strained voice.

"Do you want to get out of here?" The girl who was hitting on Donald asked rather loudly.

_Shit... _Lilly felt her stomach drop. She couldn't believe it, they'd only been at the party for less than an hour- Donald had already left her to talk with someone else, and now he was going to abandon her in unknown territory where she only knew Craig and the few others Donald had introduced her too.

"No, sorry, I'm here with someone else."

Her eyes widen, she couldn't help but smile. Donald came back to her side and asked if the fight was over, the two shook their heads and continued arguing until they came to a mutual agreement. Every now and then a girl would come up to the popular rapper and shamelessly flirt with him. Despite any girl's attempt to drag the boy away, he stayed firmly by Lilly's side. The Bella found herself grinning as she eyed some girls glaring at her jealously.

"Having fun?" He asked noticing how she visibly became more confident and relaxed.

"More fun than watching babies cry."

He smiled happily and she smiled right back, glad that he never got weirded out by the things she said. Eventually they moved over to the Wii to play Super Smash Bros. After the two other players were defeated off the stage, Lilly and Donald fought competitively, neither one budging off the stage. They drew a crowd who began cheering each time one of them almost fell off the stage. Finally after 5 minutes the match ended when Donald threw Lilly off the stage, jumped off, and successfully spiked her. The crowd and Lilly demanded a rematch which Donald accepted eagerly after wiping his sweaty hands on his jeans.

"Hey Donald!" A pair of arms wrapped around the boy's neck, pulling him in for a back hug. The voice sounded familiar to Lilly. Quickly she glanced to see a busty brunette back hugging the Treble. Shocked, Lilly had to do a double take. Stacie. Stacie her fellow Bella was back hugging the Treble. Stacie turned to look over at the small asian in surprise. "Lilly? What are you doing here?"

"I invited her to hangout." Donald replied stoically, eyes glued to the screen unwilling to get distracted.

"Well, you guys look like you're busy." Before peeling herself off of the forbidden Treble, Stacie leaned close to his ear whispering something Lilly couldn't distinguish. Lilly could only concentrate back onto the game as her character was knocked back to the other side of the stage.

It was a close match again. This time Lilly knocked Donald off the stage and moved to spike him in revenge, but out of no where Donald was able to counter and spike Lilly out instead. Not wanting to hog the game, the pair handed their controllers off to other players. After the crowd patted each competitor on the back and praised Donald and Lilly, the two wandered off to a quieter room.

"I'm only good since I've been practicing competitively in college longer than you." Donald chuckled after seeing Lilly pout in disappointment from losing. "You'll probably be better than me when it's time for you to graduate."

From across the room, they noticed Stacie waving at them.

"How do you know Stacie?" Lilly was curious. Aubrey had practically cut off any and all contact to the Trebles, yet Stacie seemed pretty close with Donald- close enough to give him back hugs.

"We're in the same Film as Literature class. She misses class often so I've had to tutor her sometimes."

Donald put on a charming grin as they approached the other Bella. Lilly withdrew socially as she pondered over the new information. Donald tutored Stacie as well? Stacie was acting giddy with the Treble... Lilly was sure her tutor acted smooth with all of his students, but she seriously began to wonder if she was just another student to flirt with. She thought back to the argument with Aubrey. He had said that Lilly wasn't like any other girl he'd hung out with, but being a lady's man, he'd probably said that to every girl.

The Treble in question noticed the sudden quietness of the small asian girl standing next to him as Stacie chatted away. Was the conversation not interesting enough for Lilly? Well, they were talking about hair product...

"Hey..." Donald found himself interrupting Stacie when an idea popped into his head. "Why don't we move into the living room? Sounds like they're havin' fun on Rockband over there."

Stacie agreed enthusiastically while Lilly hesitantly nodded.

Carry on Wayward Son flooded their ears as they walked into the room.

"I love this song!" Stacie announced as she began to sing along. Soon the entire room was singing along.

Although she had been withdrawn, Lilly found herself drawn into the song.

Donald smiled as he sang along. His hunch was correct, the two girls were singing their hearts out. Afterwards they spoke music, the girls were surprised that they liked the same artists- even more shocked when they found out they were listening to the same indie groups growing up.

"Gosh, I wish we had gotten the chance to talk more during Bella rehearsals. It would have made them feel like less of a drag." Stacie complained as she hooked a loose strand of hair behind an ear.

"Yeah, I mean, I know Aubrey wanted to win, but she didn't have to be so strict..."

"Mmm, yeah... what do you think the chances were of an aca-orgy happening if Aubrey wasn't so strict?"

"... Donald, you're gross..."

As the party flew through the night, other Treblemakers found their way in, greeting their senior, and making acquaintances with the two Bellas. A few Treble fans asked them to improvise songs, soon people were yelling out random songs for them to sing. Lilly watched in amazement as Donald beat boxed.

"The rap from Nothin on You by B-o-b!" Someone called out.

The Trebles all exchanged glances.

"Aw man, we're going to have to pass on that. The only rapper here is our only beat boxer." Hat apologized pointing at the senior.

The crowd "aww"-ed in disappointment.

Lilly tugged on Donald's sleeve.

"Hmm?"

"I can beat box for you."

Donald stared at the Bella, recalling the beat boxing she did on the bus to semi-finals. "Alright." He smiled. "Hey guys, Lilly here said she'll beat box while I rap."

The crowd cheered while Stacie and the other Trebles shared looks of uncertainty.

"Alright, taking it from the first verse. Ready? 1...2...3... _I know you feel where I'm comin from, regardless of the things in my past that I've done. Most of it really was for the hell of the fun._"

Stacie whooped and Donald grinned as Lilly busted out great beats. The acapella singers continued until the end of the chorus. As the night went on the Trebles accepted more requests with Lilly beat boxing when Donald rapped.

The party died down around 3am. Being the gentleman he was, Donald was walking the two Bellas back to their dorms.

"I didn't know you could do that!" Stacie exclaimed, still surprised by the beat boxing.

Lilly shyly nodded in thanks.

"I wish we could have used it in Bella performances..." Stacie continued.

They dropped Stacie off at her dorm. Before leaving, she got permission to hug Lilly, then gave Donald a tight hug and a slap on the butt. The two study mates ruled the butt-touching as a drunk move, they then continued across the quad to Lilly's dorm.

"You were pretty awesome tonight, we made a good team." Donald raised his arm to give Lilly a friendly side hug as they walked. His hug was curtly intercepted by a punch to his side when his arm got near the unsuspecting asian. He keeled over in pain as Lilly profusely apologized.

"I should be the one walking you home since you don't have any pain tolerance." Lilly scoffed when the boy recovered.

"Ah, but see, I can run fast. Very fast." Donald assured her.

Even though the freshman's dorm wasn't very far away, they walked slowly, inhaling the cold night air. Their slow foot steps barely making audible taps as the crickets sang and the wind whisked by shuddering leafs. Donald licked his dry lips and glanced over at Lilly who was staring at her feet while she walked.

"I've been wondering..."

"Hm?" Lilly looked over at the boy to let him know he had her attention.

"Why don't you usually speak as loud as you did today? I know you're not a shy person."

She halted in her step to think. This was one of those questions that she ran over and over in her mind to have a prepared answer. But as she was being asked it now, she was drawing blanks. "I think..." She started walking again. "To me, everyone is very loud...This level of sound, it's peaceful to me... and besides, it helps weed out the people who don't listen and the one's who do."

"Am I loud to you?"

"No... you're just the right volume."

Donald smiled, glad he wasn't a burden on his friend's ears.

They reached the entrance to Lilly's dorm.

"Oh, by the way, what are you doing for spring break?"

"Staying here. My parents went back to Japan for the month so there isn't a point in going home." She sighed.

"Cool, same... except my parents are still at home- I meant same as I'm staying here, not that my parents went to Japan for the month." He shook his head for trailing off. "Anyways, there are some underground rap performances and beat-boxing, hip-hop stuffs going on during break. I think you'd like it... Do you want to tag along with me?"

The Bella accepted happily. She had been meaning to improve her beat boxing and get involved with the community.

"Cool... cool..." The Treble shoved his hands into his pockets and bit his lower lip.

The two stood awkwardly in front of the freshman dorm as the conversation lulled.

"What are you waiting for!" A drunk student yelled as he passed by the two. "Kiss the girl already!"

The two acapella singers blushed furiously. They quickly turned to each other in shock, Donald speechless with his mouth half open, Lilly wide-eyed in surprise.

"Night Donald!" She squeaked, making a hasty escape into her dorm.

"... N-night!" She heard him stammer as the door closed behind her.

**...**

**End of chapter.**

**Update will hopefully be on Saturday. School is starting, don't know how busy I'll be...**


	4. Chapter 4

Blurs of green and yellow fluttered past the window. Her eyes followed the fast trees along the highway, catching a glimpse of her own reflection against the window every now and then. Sweaty hands clenched tightly to the fabric of her jeans, she inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of the lemon scented car freshener. "Anyway You Want It" was blasting from the speakers as the boy driving sang along and tapped his fingers to the beat. He tilted his head at her and nudged her with his elbow, urging her to sing along. She supposed singing her heart out was one way to shake off her nervousness.

It had been 6 days since her Stats mid-term. According to the University calendar, it was now officially the week of Spring Break. She had spent the last few days watching random videos on Netflix, finishing the rest of her mid-terms, and waiting for Donald to text her. Unfortunately, the rap/beat-boxing gatherings were completely random on the places and times, so he had waited for someone to contact him before contacting Lilly. In the back of her mind, she wished they had hung out regardless of the hip-hop gatherings. However, she didn't know what Donald did on his personal time without her, and she didn't want to be the one to interrupt his day to hang out.

It was 2am on Saturday when he texted her, asking if she was free to go on Sunday around 1pm. Upon getting the text, butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Just to be clear: butterflies from being nervous about the gathering- not because she was happy to get a text from him. Why would she be happy about getting a text from that kid...

The Bella didn't know what to expect, so she spent most of the car ride mulling on her social anxiety. Being with Donald helped quell her fears, but the unknown was still the unknown. What if they got separated? What if her beat boxing wasn't any good? What if she got into a fight? Her anxiety spiked when the senior moved to exit the highway.

"How much longer?" Her voice was small, her stomach felt tight.

"Mmm... I'd say ten minutes..."

Lilly spied the clock, taking note of the time. Trying to get her mind off of her nervousness, she turned towards the window to watch super markets and family restaurants pass by. She wondered if they were going somewhere ambiguous or if it would just be like a house party.

"Aaaaand... we are just about there..." Donald stopped at a red light and clicked his right signal on. Lilly's eyes darted at the time. Eight minutes had passed. They took a few more turns before settling into a parking-lot to what looked to be a nice apartment complex.

_House party setting...? _Lilly thought, examining the clean, seemingly normal looking building. A sign hovered on the second floor reading "Building up for Lease". So it was an empty apartment building...?

"This is the Monkey Cage. It used to be an apartment complex, but its been abandoned for 5 some years now. The guys who are running the gathering rented the place out for the day, so we don't have to worry about breaking and entering."

Stepping out of the car, the smaller asian took note of the other cars in the parking-lot. Some looked relatively normal like Donald's, others were obviously modified or sported fancy paint jobs. Donald reached into his back seat to grab his Treblemakers string bag, slinging it onto his back as he shut and locked his door.

"Why's it called the Monkey Cage?" She softly whispered as she followed the boy to the entrance.

"..." The Treble halted, biting his lower lip. "Trust me... you don't want to know..."

They walked in to see a practically empty room with dirty broken wooden floor boards, large pieces of flimsy cardboard covering dusty windows, and graffiti sprayed on the walls. The faint sound of chatter and cheering shook the floor under their feet. Across the room from where they were standing was a hispanic-looking boy in a red hoodie sitting on a stool next to a door. His head was tilted downwards on his phone as he texted away. The boy glanced up at the sound of the entrance door closing.

" 'Ey! Donald my boy!" He jumped off his stool and met Donald halfway across the room for a bro-hug. "Glad you could make it bro, it's starting to get wild down there." He glanced over at Lilly. "And, who is this fine young lady here?"

"This is Lilly, she's a good beat box. Lilly, this is Roque, he's my rap partner."

Roque grinned and offered his hand, she shook it shyly.

"You on bouncer duty for now?" Donald asked as they began to approach the door.

"Yeh, yeh. My shifts gonna end in like an hour."

"Aw that sucks. But, yo, when you get off of your shift, you and me? Dope duo rap battle against Skinny and Tempo."

"You know it man! Gonna wreck them like we did last year."

The two shoulder bumped. Roque opened the door for them, revealing a stair case. The sound of loud beat boxing and rhymes flooded into their ears. Stepping down, the stair creaked under their step, but felt stable enough for Lilly to feel safe. The door shut behind them.

"That was Roque, we go way back."

"I can tell. I don't see you talking like that often."

She turned to look at Donald, his eyes were glued upwards as if he was embarrassed. Further down the stairs, they got a full view of the basement. From what Lilly could see from her step, the room was humungous. The walls were littered with graffiti over graffiti- it was hard to tell how it originally looked, but if one stared hard enough, they could spot that the original color was a sickly beige. The room was filled with crowds of people, but it wasn't at all jammed. It looked as though there was enough room for dancing and walking aimlessly without bumping into others. Surprisingly the people there seemed to range from 16 to possibly folks in their 50s. Some were huddled into their own small group, while others were in large circles, cheering as rap battles enraged in their center. The room was quite dim since the ceiling lights were off, the electricity in the building probably didn't work due to the building having been abandoned. Surprisingly, partcipates had brought lights ranging from portable hand held desk lights to what looked to be battery charged film set lights. Donald shrugged his bag off of his shoulder and pulled out a pack of glow stick bracelets. He snapped a few to light them up, handing the blue and white ones to Lilly. She silently noted that he'd given her Bella colors and was putting red and yellow Treble colors on himself.

"In case we get separated I have LED earrings on, so if you're looking for me, I should be the only guy with flashing red dots on his ears." Shuffling through his bag, he pulled out a withdrawn lightsaber. "And for you, Obi Wan's lightsaber. If you can't find me, then just raise this in the air, I should be able to spot it."

She happily accepted the lightsaber, holding it firmly in her hands made her feel more confident. Finally getting off the stairs, Donald was quickly intercepted by friends. There was a blur of meet and greet for Lilly. Reezy-Peezy, Supreme T, Charcoal Dust... she could barely keep up with the names. They eventually made their way towards a crowd that was circling a pair of rappers who were battling. Mesmerized by the spits and flows, the Bella was quickly swept in with the crowd, "ohh"-ing and "ahh"-ing as the battle grew intense.

Donald glimpsed at the smaller asian as she went along with the crowd, a grin on her face as if she were an amused 5-year-old seeing an amusement park for the first time. He struggled to suppress a smile and a laugh that was trying to force its way onto his lips. The smile found its way up, but he opted to go with putting his hand to his mouth to appear as if he were stroking his chin at the battle in thought.

Lilly turned to Donald after one of the rappers had pulled a ridiculous punchline about how he rapped like Yoda. The Treble had a hard look in his eyes and was resting his chin in a hand thoughtfully. _Knowing him, he's probably analyzing the rap battle_, she thought to herself, rolling her eyes as she brought her attention back to the rappers.

Wandering away from the rap battle, the pair found themselves observing a beat boxing session, after that they observed a free style rap game where rappers attempted to create ciphers based off of what people around them were wearing. It was then that Lilly realized how fast her heart was beating. It wasn't from nervousness or fear or social anxiety... it was from excitement.

"Alright. I'm ready." She found herself announcing to her tutor.

Donald stared at her with a confused look.

"I'm going to go wander around to find my own clique."

The boy was surprised by the amount of confidence that was spewing out of the small girl. Nodding, Donald turned his earrings on and she triggered her lightsaber to full length.

"Don't kill anyone... remember the Jedi Code."

Lilly smirked and shook her head as she turned to walk away.

"I'm serious!" A slight pang of disappointment rang in his stomach as he watched her leave his line of sight.

Wandering around Lilly found a small group beat boxing away. They were doing a game similar to the riff off where one person dropped a beat and continued until another person picked up on it to change it. They were incredible. The way they were smirking and countering beats with ease. The looks on their faces... it made her jealous. She wanted to be just as free as they were- spitting beats as if there was nothing holding them back, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Pushing away all insecurities, she jumped in when there was a pause. Initially, the group was surprised. A small asian wielding a lightsaber would have been alarming or cutely intimidating to most, but they recovered and welcomed her warmly into the game. She was soon cut off by another person, but quickly found her way back into the beats. She was on the tips of her toes, her heart was racing, it was like her brain was trigger adrenaline to the fight-or-flight mode. She stood her ground. It was all fight.

...

The beat boxing group paused as a loud announcer-like-voice rang atop their heads.

"Ladies and gentlemen! It's the time for that dope duo rap battle we wait for every year!"

Lilly recalled Donald's discussion with Roque. An hour of beat boxing must have passed , as Roque was now off his bouncer duty shift.

The announcer's voice interrupted her train of thought. "Our best rappers are pairing up to go face to face again! In one corner we've got the challengers, the man who wields a scepter in one hand and the hopes and dreams of all us in the other, our one, our only underground king... Tempo! Teamed up with the king is the dynamic spitter with dancing feet that defy gravity... Skinny!" The crowd went wild, chanting the names.

"Why is he called the underground king?" Lilly asked a near-by beat boxer.

"Tempo has been pretty popular underground for a while. He's one of those guys we know is gonna make it far- kid's just 17, already gettin signed to a label. Tempo's a home boy, so he ain't gonna forget about us, gonna come back rich and successful, and we'll throw 'em a party fit for a king."

The announcer waited for the crowd to settle before continuing. "In the other corner, rockin the blood red and royal gold, last year's winners... the Portuguese boy that everyone knows and loves, the hard balling, tough spittin, Roque! By his side is his and everyone's long time bro, the genius with an IQ over 9000... Donald!"

Lilly squirmed as she made her way through the crowd. It would be her first time seeing Donald free style, she wouldn't miss it for the world. Getting a glimpse of the players she noticed just how young Tempo looked and just how not skinny Skinny looked. The announcer flipped a coin and the battle was on.

They were good. Ridiculously good. The punch lines and puns were swirling through her head, one after another, she couldn't keep up. At one point Donald looked over in her direction. Noticing her, he smiled widely, and turned his still glowing LED earrings off. Her tutor surprisingly fit in a ton of big fancy words into his free style like "genocide, aphrodisiac, incessant", he was even able to rhyme "it is" with "incubus". Lilly and the crowd all "wow"-ed when he was able to rock in the term "Bermuda triangles". The Treble was definitely living up to his status as a "genius with an IQ over 9000". She wondered how big his IQ was- he was smart, but she was pretty sure he wasn't going to solve all the problems and mysteries of the universe.

Although it was close, Roque and Donald ended up winning the battle. There were bro-hugs all around, much love, no resentment.

That was how the next few days of their spring break went. Donald would pick her up some time around noon, they'd end up at some ambiguous setting (sometimes lit, sometimes not, Donald always had the glow stick bracelets in his bag), and they'd beat box and rap to their hearts content. It was enthralling. Like nothing Lilly had ever experienced before.

One day as they drove back to the university from an abandoned pool, Donald noticed his quiet friend slouched in her seat, deep in thought. She was a quiet girl, but today she was too quiet.

"What'cha thinking about so hard?"

"Hmmm it's just... I've never tried freestyle rapping before...It seems fun..."

"Oh yeah? It is pretty fun. You should try it out." He grinned at the thought of her rapping. He'd never heard her rap before and he was pretty sure she'd be too embarrassed to attempt to rap in front of him.

"... How... how do I even start...?"

Donald's eyebrows shot up. Was she really going to attempt it?

The Bella mumbled, but the boy didn't hear a breath.

"L-let me tell you... um... Let me tell you 'bout what I'm gonna do..." She trailed off into thought.

"That's good. That's a good way to start."

"Ah... Let me tell you 'bout what I'm gonna do... I'm gonna rip... gonna rip your verses up... like... like scissors... ripping paper up..."

The Treble couldn't hold back a laugh that bursted through his lips.

"Shut up! I'm trying!" Lilly's face was consumed in red. "I'm- I'm gonna blow your verses up! Like fireworks! Blowing your verses up!"

The Treble fell into an eruption of giggle fits as the Bella continued to attempt to freestyle.

"Then I'm gonna put shame to your reputation like you're losing a baseball game!"

"Stop!" Donald croaked in between a laugh. "I'm cramping up from laughing too hard!" He tried to catch his breath, but the rhymes that had spewed out of the girl's mouth kept making him crack up.

Still red faced, Lilly punched him as he continued to laugh, swearing he was just as bad when he had first started.

On Thursday they were at an underpass of a bridge. Lilly was beat boxing with a group she had become familiar with while Donald was off to the side rapping with Roque. During a break in lines, Donald glanced over to see how the Bella was doing. She was smiling and dancing to the flow of the beats. He found himself staring at her expression. That smile. She looked satisfied. Happy. This was where she belonged, beat boxing to her hearts content.

Lilly felt her phone vibrate madly in her pocket- which was a shock since people normally didn't call her. The name of the caller shocked her even more.

_Aubrey?_

She clicked the green button. "Hello?" Her voice came out as a whisper.

"Hey Lilly! So, I know I probably won't be able to hear you respond, but guess what!" (She didn't wait for a response.) "The Bellas are back in the ICCAs! We are going to have to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse! I'll see you after spring break! Bye!" _Click. _Aubrey hung up.

Wide eyed, Lilly was stunned. They made it into the finals? But how? She was happy but... then she thought of how much they would have to rehearse. Aubrey was going to kill them to win, they were going to have to do whatever it took...

"Hey, what's up?" Donald had seen her drift away from the beat boxing group, a look of concern was on his face. She wondered if she looked mortified.

"Aubrey just called...The Bellas are in the finals..."

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wow! That's awesome!" The Treble smiled at her as if waiting for a response. When there was none, he raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you excited?"

"I'm not really looking forward to Aubrey's hellish rehearsals..."

"Yo, why don't you just show her your mad beats? I'm sure it will be more fun if you got to beat box for the group."

But would Aubrey let her beat box for the group...?

Saturday was the last day of the gatherings. Lilly was going to miss this. She had made sure to exchange numbers with her new beat boxing friends, determined to stay in contact with them. They had taught her so much- she felt utterly thankful. Unfortunately, they had wrapped up the beat-boxing early as most of them were heading back out to travel to their campuses or homes. It was on her way to Donald that she had bumped shoulders with someone else. She quickly apologized and tried to scramble away.

"Whoa wait! I know you."

Lilly turned to see a somewhat familiar boy pointing his finger at her. "You're a Bella, right?" She nodded. He pointed a thumb at himself, "I'm a Footnote."

Suddenly, Lilly did recognize him. She remembered seeing him dance at the semi-finals.

"Yo, I just heard my team go kicked outta the ICCA's. Congrats to you."

"Thanks...?" She was unsure on how to react in this kind of situation.

"It's completely unfair though. You guys kinda sucked and we kinda rocked."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. The. Bellas. Suck."

Before Lilly could retaliate, Donald stepped in from out of nowhere. "Calm down man. It's just accapella."

"Aca-scuse me? Just accapella?" The Footnote suddenly took a step back, taking a better look at Donald. "Wait, wait wait, hold up. Ain't you one of those Treblemakers?"

"Yeah. So?"

"Just accapella? You have no right to say that to me. You Treblemakers always win the ICCAs, always beating us Footnotes. Girls are always falling all over the Trebles. You know what son, I've always wanted to do this against you and your aca-rapping ass. Let's brawl!" The Footnote threw his jacket off onto the floor.

"Donald!" Lilly grabbed his arm, pulling the Treble back. She couldn't let Donald fight, especially since it was her fault.

"It's okay, I've got this." The easy-going Donald had a deadly set of serious in his eyes, something Lilly had never seen before.

"But you're not good at taking pain!"

"Pain?" The dark-skinned boy furrowed his eyebrows then keeled over laughing. The Bella decided that he was going insane. "Lilly... don't worry. We aren't going fist to fist, it's a rap battle."

"... aca-scuse me?"

The Bella couldn't believe it. Had they suddenly been sucked into a musical?

A crowd gathered around them chanting, "Rap Battle! Rap Battle!"

"Yeah, the way the rules work here is that there is zero tolerance to physical violence. So instead, everything is settled by rap battles."

"Oh.. makes sense, I was wondering why there wasn't as much shanking going on..."

Donald could only grin at her.

The Footnote stepped up to the center of the rap battle field surrounded by the crowd.

"Look at this nerd with his glasses and mathematical degree, being fake, trying to live it up against me. I'd welcome you to the neighborhood by running circles around your rhymes, but my homies would hold me back cuz beating you would be a hate crime."

Donald grinned, stroking his chin as the Footnote fist bumped his friends. They nodded at the Treble, telling him to go. Lilly wanted to wish him good luck, but his face looked so concentrated, she didn't want to break it.

"Your rhyme schemes of crime themes, is like a painful dose of diuretic, to a man's dream. Son, I'll pay for your CD but pay no attention, to your lyrical descension for physical possessions."

"Damn son!" A few people behind Donald praised him and patted his back.

"Big words... smart guy..." The Footnote and his crew nodded in approval, ready to go again.

"Let me make the beat drop, I'm coming from the life of hip-hop, while you're coming from the beauty shop. Been practicing my spits for a battle plan, yo your flows can't harm me man, they're just garbage man."

"Garbage?" Donald didn't wait to give the audience the chance to applaud, going in with a tight flow. "Yo, you best believe that when I'm on the mic, I'm popping ear blockage. I've been doing this since college. I've got an ass for brains, so even when I take a shit, I'm dropping knowledge."

"OOOOOHHHHH!" The crowd cheered as the Footnote backed away with a shocked face and raised hands. He didn't think he could beat the Treble.

Donald earned pats on the back and multiple bro hugs. Despite the love, the Treble and Bella made a quick leave. They both sensed that the tension was still in the air, the Footnote was bitter. Lilly had wanted to stay longer, but her friends had already left and it was starting to die down anyways...

Spring break was one of the best weeks of her life. Getting to meet all those people, beat boxing until her throat was dry, hanging out with Donald... heck she even found out she'd gotten a B on her mid-term... It was as if the air was suddenly lighter and her brain was trigger endorphins uncontrollably... she glanced at the boy who was driving, then back at her window contemplating a feeling in her chest. She wondered if the sunflower seeds she'd eaten for lunch were blooming a garden in her stomach. It was a feeling she'd never felt before... a feeling like she had a reason to live.

Before she knew it, it was Monday. The fun was all over. Aubrey had arranged the rehearsal schedule from hell. It was endless rehearsals day in and day out. The small asian had attempted to show Aubrey her beat boxing, but the blonde had ignored her and anyone else who tried to approach her with changes. The Bella leader had demanded everyone to drop their social life, grades, and anything and everything that wasn't acapella. Lilly tried her best to study at night or during lunch or even in the bathroom. She still went to her classes, but even then she was falling asleep in all of them. She hadn't seen Donald at all since spring break. That feeling she had felt in the car was long forgotten. She didn't have the time for it, but she yearned to feel it again. Without him, she felt... off...Rehearsals felt off. But, that was because Beca had yet to show up to any of them and Aubrey was getting frustrated each day, not because of something silly like not being able to see that treblesome boy. But she...

... well _shit_.

She was staring at the latest Stats test that had just gotten passed back. A 64%. Fantastic.

**End of chapter.**

**Author's notes:**

**Holy shit writing rap lyrics is hard. I referenced Epik High's "Free Music" a lot for help with the lyrics...**

**I don't know why, but this was the toughest chapter to write. I feel like my struggle to input words onto a page was super obvious this chapter. If so, I'm terribly sorry for my horrible writing.**

**Going back to school this week, got a super busy schedule. I'm going to try my hardest to continue to update. Don't know when I'll be able to update, but I can guarantee that next Saturday will be the latest!**

**Thank you all for the reviews and favorites and follows! I love you all~**


	5. Chapter 5

Donald yawned as he waited in front of Lilly's dorm. It was 11:15pm, he'd just gotten out of Treble rehearsals. With the ICCA Finals a week and a half away, Bumper was forcing them to stay longer until everything was perfect.

The other day Lilly had called Donald, terrified for her grade in Stats due to Bella rehearsals. He had agreed to tutor her again, but unfortunately the only time they had for studying was at night.

The entrance door pushed open and the tiny asian waved him inside to sign him in with security. He took a long look at her as they entered the elevator. Her usual well groomed hair was frizzy, her eyes had dark bags under them, and she was visibly slouching. _Aubrey must be doing a number on the Bellas..._

"So... what are you learning in class right now?" He might as well make some form of conversation.

"I think it was called geometry disturbances...?" She squinted, trying to remember class.

He raised an eyebrow. "You mean geometric distributions?"

She sighed heavily and nodded, bringing her hand up to pinch the skin between her eyes.

This was going to be a long week and half...

Donald followed Lilly like a lost puppy as they exited the elevator onto her floor, eyes darting around the new atmosphere. The Bella tried stretching as she walked to wake herself up.

"Welcome to my humble abode." She swung her door open to reveal the small freshman room. Pairs of beds, desks, and closets to each side. Donald stood in the hallway gazing at the room, attempting to guess which side was Lilly's. It was a quick assumption as only the right side of the room had a Super Smash Bros poster hanging over a bed.

Lilly plopped down onto her bed and yawned. "You can take my desk."

The Treble gave her a skeptical look as he closed the door and made his way across the room. "You sure you should sit on the bed, won't you fall asleep on it?"

"Hmm, that's true... but you can just wake me up if I start to fall asleep..."

He was too tired to press on about the matter of seating arrangements.

The night went on as they talked geometric distributions. It was a short chapter, so they finished it quickly. Taking the initiative, Donald began teaching Lilly the next unit so she could be ahead of her class.

"So in this example, the regression equation that represents..." The tutor glanced up to see his tutee with a wobbly head and glazed over eyes. She looked about ready to drop dead asleep. The raven boy wasn't sure how to go about waking her. He was pretty sure that if he tried to shake her awake she would unconsciously put him into a head lock.

Racking his brain for a solution, he decided to spit some beats her way. She smiled at the flow.

_Bzzt ch ch bzzt ch ch bzzt..._

Blinking her eyes hard, she responded with her own beat. The room was alive with the sound beat boxing. Hours dwindled away as they beat boxed and studied.

"By the way, where's your roommate?" After some time, Donald had noticed the obvious lack of another warm body that should have been in the room.

"Probably at a party, she's always out at night. Never know when she get's back..."

He found himself nodding understandingly, remembering how he'd partied every night his freshman year.

It was around 1:30am when Donald decided to end the study session. As they packed, the door creaked open. A tired brunette sidled into the room.

"Whoa, you guys are still up?" She looked genuinely surprised.

"Mmmhmm. Sarah, this is my tutor Donald, Donald that's Sarah, my roommate."

The two exchanged a sleepy handshake.

Lilly and Donald competed on the loudest yawn their entire way back down to the dorm entrance. The Bella found herself apologizing and thanking him profusely for staying up so late to study.

"It's no problem." Even sleepily, Donald's smirk was still charming. "It's nice to end my day knowing I'll be the last thing on your mind before you go to sleep."

"So sure of that?"

He grinned and she tapped his cheek lightly with her hand as if she were smacking him.

They spent the next week following that routine. Meeting at her dorm at night, beat boxing while studying, greeting Sarah as she'd come in late, and Lilly apologizing and thanking Donald for helping. It was a drag to stay up late studying, but it helped the smaller asian feel grounded. As if she had just a little control on her chaotic life.

Five days before finals, the Treble was struggling to make it to Lilly's dorm. Bumper had forced them to do more push-ups, more rehearsing, and more cardio than usual. All Donald wanted to do was fall into the sweet mercy of sleep, but he stayed strong. He had promised to help Lilly with Stats and he was going to keep that promise.

When he made it into her room, he immediately collapsed onto her floor.

"Whoa! Are you alright Donald?!" Shocked, Lilly knelt by his side, shaking his shoulder.

He yawned as he sat up. "Nnnhhnnn, just tired is all. Gonna stay down here today."

The Bella nodded understandingly and took her usual place on her bed. They studied and beat boxed per usual.

"Here you need to use the z-score to..."

As Donald droned on, Lilly found her mind zeroing in on the sound of his tired husky voice. Normally, the boy's voice was clear and full of confidence, tonight it was raw and unguarded. Snuggling deeper into the bed, her breathing fell into a heavy rhythm, body aching from dancing and running. She tried to keep her eyes open, but they no longer held strength. Lids fell shut over her vision. Her hands went numb as darkness took her. She wondered what it would be like to fall asleep to the Treble's voice...

_Beep beep!_

Lilly jumped awake and shut the 5am alarm off. Confused, she rubbed her eyes. When had she fallen asleep? Catching her breath, she quickly recounted her memories of last night. All she remembered was letting Donald in, beat boxing, and listening to him explain something to her...

Looking over at her floor, she found said boy sleeping. He was lying on his stomach, left cheek burrowed into the math textbook he'd fallen asleep on. His glasses were skewed on his face, lips slightly parted.

_Adorable... _She paused, finding it strange that she didn't resent the thought as she usually would. Probably because it was true. He looked adorable, as if sleeping on a textbook was his natural sleeping form. She wanted to stroke his face, pull him onto her bed, and...

Lilly face palmed her self. Why was she thinking like this? She concluded that it was early, she was tired, and Donald was in fact an attractive boy sleeping in her room. Glancing at the clock, she got ready, but... she couldn't just leave Donald there to wake up alone...

Sighing, she pulled her blankets off of her bed and draped them onto him. Hesitantly, she kneeled down near his face. A blush covering her cheeks as she leaned her face next to his to carefully extracted the big framed glasses off of the boy's face. Just then her room door burst open. Her roommate stared at her from the doorway as Lilly stared back, centimeters away from Donald's face.

"I'm sorry for interrupting." Sarah squeaked as she shut the door again.

_You've got the wrong idea! _Lilly cried in her head. Huffing, she pulled the glasses off of the Treble. Looking at him again, she realized she'd never seen him without his glasses. He looked so peaceful and warm...

Donald groaned as he awoke. Disoriented, he glanced around. Even though his glasses weren't on, he was pretty sure he wasn't in his own room. He found his glasses by the side of his head, putting them on he realized he was in Lilly's room. Had he fallen asleep in her room last night? Looking at his phone he cursed at the time. It was 9am, he had to get to class. Pulling himself up, he felt a blanket fall off his shoulder. He questioned it as he picked it up. Had Lilly put this on him? He held it close to his face. _Apples..._ It smelled wonderful...

On her desk, he found a note she'd left for him.

"Good Morning Genius, you know, it isn't smart to fall asleep in some girl's room. You're lucky I decided not to take advantage of your hot bod. Sarah should be hanging with her friends in room 527, she'll sign you out when you're ready to leave. See you later! Thanks and sorry for the late study session. Lilly."

He smiled at the note, pocketing it in his wallet. He left her a note that said, "Good. Keep your hands off my hot cross buns!", then was on his way to find Sarah.

...

Eyes closed, Donald took deep breaths trying to steady himself. He was backstage with the Treblemakers at the ICCA finals. He hadn't seen Lilly in three days, not since the day he had fallen asleep in her room. Three days ago, Bumper had abruptly abandoned the Trebles, forcing the boys to spend the last few remaining nights rearranging their performance. He didn't have time to meet up with her.

"You alright Donald?"

He opened his eyes to see Jesse staring at him with a face of concern.

"Yeah." The beat-boxer breathed. "How 'bout you?"

Jesse had been acting less cheerful and charmful ever since his argument with Beca during semi-finals. Although the freshman put on a pretty believable act of being okay, there was always a somber glint in his eyes.

"I'll be alright." The boy sighed.

Even though they were at nationals, the air of the Treblemakers was of exhaustion and a hint of melancholy. Not wanting his boy's to be down, Donald called a group huddle.

"I know the past few days have been difficult with Bumper abandoning us, but we've worked hard. Harder than we've ever worked for finals. I know a few of you guys have been having a tough time," his sight fell on Jesse who was listening intently, "and I know a few of you guys have been having the time of your lives," he smiled at Benji who grinned back, "but this isn't about winning or losing or points. I'm not Bumper so there won't be any desk flipping." The older Trebles flash backed to last year when Bumper had flipped a desk upon seeing that they had nearly tied for first place. "I just want to have fun. I'm glad I got to end my senior year here with you guys. Uni. Please flash your abs for me at the end of our performance. It'll be the last time I get to see them on stage with you." Unicycle nodded in determination.

"Don, I thought this was a pep talk, you're going to make me cry!" Steven pouted at the senior.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Donald grinned widely. "You're all the best bros a guy could ask for. Even though some of you sound like Justin Bieber, you've got hearts and a love for the stage like Freddie Mercury. Let's have rock this stage then party all night! Hands in! 1! 2! 3! 4! SWAG!"

The air of the Trebles changed, even Jesse seemed happier. Donald turned to the stage, emptying his mind, ready to go.

"Hey." From the far back of the group, he heard the soft voice of Beca. She was probably talking to Jesse.

"Hey..." The younger Treble greeted back.

"Uh...Good luck..."

"Thanks... you too..."

"...TREBLEMAKERS!" The senior was suddenly pulled back to concentration mode as the announcer called the Trebles out. When he got into place on stage, he glanced over to the side to see a huge smile on Jesse's face. He was glad for the guy, but wished he could see Lilly on the side lines as well.

As their performance began, Donald's mind completely cleared, focusing only on his beats and rapping. He couldn't afford to make a mistake just because he was over-thinking. And just like getting a shot from the doctor, their performance was over. The Trebles definitely killed it.

"DON!"

Donald turned to see Uni flashing his abs at him. He could only grin and hug his teammate.

When they sat at their reserved seats, Donald found his heart begin to beat rapidly. _Lilly..._ it was almost her turn, he'd get to see her soon. He closed his eyes as the Bellas were called onto stage. He could hear the crowd settle down as the Bellas took their places.

"_Seems like everybody's got a price..._"

Slowly he opened his eyes. There she was. On the far right of the stage. Her hair was down. She was wearing a tank top. The way the lights hit her just right... He was stunned.

"_We're paying with love tonight..._"

And then she did it. Her beat boxing. _Damn_. He could listen to those sounds all day. He recalled her beats on the bus, she had improved tremendously since that day. Then, Beca began singing Don't You (Forget About Me). Donald glanced over to his side to see Jesse look about in surprise, holding in a smile that was demanding to spread onto his face.

"_As you walk on by... will you call my name?_"

Jesse raised his fist, grinning like an idiot.

_Good for you homeboy, good for you. _Donald found himself thinking as he smirked. His eyes landed back on Lilly. He couldn't pull them off of her.

Everyone was clapping on their feet when the Bella's finished their performance. As they came down the stage, Donald inched off towards the end of his row with the rest of the Trebles to congratulate them. Everyone watched as Beca quickly zipped towards Jesse, immediately colliding lips. The Trebles and Bellas cheered and whistled.

In a flash the rest of the performances flew by and it was time for awards, Donald could tell that everyone already knew what was up.

"In second place... shockingly breaking their first place winning streak, the Barden Treblemakers!"

Despite second place, the Trebles still whopped and danced and cheered onto the stage to take their place on the stands. Donald accepted the trophy and stood with the grinning Trebles.

"And finally, our first place goes to the first all female group to ever win the ICCAs! The Barden Bellas!"

Everyone cheered as the Bellas made their way on stage. Aubrey and Chloe accepted the trophy. As they got onto the stands with the crowds cheering for them, Lilly couldn't help but let her eyes drift to Donald, who was getting his hair ruffled and was being assaulted with hugs from the enthusiastic Trebles. The awards ceremony ended with all the winning groups still on stage. They were all meeting, greeting, and congratulating each other.

"Lilly!" Donald called out to her after getting away from the Trebles. "Good job out there human orchestra, that really took me by surprise."

"It's all thanks to you." She grinned.

"Me? I didn't do anything." He beamed as he pulled out his iphone. "My lady, may I take this picture of victory with you?"

"O' of course good sir."

The Bella felt a blush creep up her face as the Treble reached his arm out, asking for permission before slinging it over her shoulder. Donald switched the camera setting to the inside so the two could see while they took a picture of themselves with the cheering Bellas and Trebles behind them. He stuck his tongue out while she held out a peace sign.

"Mmm, this is a good picture. I'm gonna make it my lock screen image."

"Can you send it to me?" She swore her face couldn't get any redder.

Donald nodded as he sent the image to her via text. Upon getting it, she grinned at the caption, "best friends foreva eva eva eva~". She made the image her lock screen background as well. It was a good picture of them.

From the group behind them, Stacie stared as Lilly and Donald smiled while talking. It was strange. Those smiles weren't "just friends" smiles... there was something special behind them... She raised an eyebrow as Lilly punched the boy who winced back in pain, he started laughing when the girl frantically apologized.

...

It was early-May, three weeks since the ICCA finals. After getting back onto campus the Bellas and Trebles had partied for four days straight. Beca and Jesse as well as Aubrey and Uni were happily paired together. With the acapella competitions and rivalry dying away, Lilly and Donald fell back into their tutoring routine, getting ready for final exams. As they studied through the weeks, Lilly noticed the bitter sweet atmosphere between the two of them. Donald noticed it as well. Neither wanted to bring up the topic of Donald graduating. What would become of their friendship?

Lilly sighed as she held her phone in her hand.

"What's up?" The Treble asked. It was their break time and they were taping roses with notes that said "you're awesome, keep it up" under random desks in random rooms of the academic building.

"My iPhone case broke, so I've got to buy a new one..." Lilly mumbled. She had been quite fond of her phone case, to buy a new one felt like betrayal.

"Well hey, now you can get one customized with my face on it." She rolled her eyes as the boy put on an exaggerated winking face with his thumbs up. She placed her phone on the desk and they continued studying.

It was 8pm when Lilly got back to her dorm from the study session. Sighing, she threw her bag onto the floor and checked her phone.

**1 unread message**.

It was from Stacie- which was weird since Stacie almost never texted her.

**I need to ask you a very important question.**

Lilly raised an eyebrow. She hoped it wasn't about the bear skull she had hid in the Bella's rehearsal room.

**Sure, shoot. **She quickly responded.

After a minute the phone vibrated.

**What do you think of Lilly?**

_Huh?_ Lilly re-read it to make sure she hadn't misread the text. Maybe it was a typo. But in the back of her mind she wondered if Stacie had meant to send it to someone else.

**What do you mean? **That was the response she decided to go with. Sighing, she laid down on her bed.

_Bzzzt._

That was fast.

**I want to know how you feel about Lilly.**

What? So it wasn't a typo. Stacie was talking about her behind her back... She felt her throat tighten. _Stop staring at it. _She told herself. Silently, she thought about why Stacie would be gossiping about her. Lilly was weird, understandably quirky to others. She whispered when she talked. She was thin like a stick. Was her hair too long? Were her eyes too big? Could everyone actually hear her but neglected to say anything because they didn't like what she said? She threw her phone to the other side of the bed in frustration and planted her face into her pillow. _Is it about my looks? Did I do something ridiculous?_

She laid face down for what felt like ten minutes before finally convincing herself that she didn't care.

_Bzzzt._

Another text? Stacie had probably realized she was texting the wrong person and was now apologizing. Angered, she swiped her phone open to read:

**Well, Donald?**

Her heart stopped.

Donald? Stacie was gossiping about Lilly to Donald? But why? Then it clicked. Donald and her had the same phone. They looked exactly the same without phone cases. Quickly she pressed the home button to find that they had indeed accidentally switched phones. They both had the same lock screen picture from the ICCA finals, however their background images and apps were different.

Now the question was, why did Stacie want to know how Donald felt about Lilly? Just then another text from Stacie was received. Curiosity getting the best of her, Lilly read it.

**I'm sorry Donald, I shouldn't have forced a weird question like that on to you. It's just that you two seem so close. I thought that you liked her or something...**

._.. what...?_ Lilly could only stare at the words. What... what did Donald think of her? They had been practically spending everyday with each other, but that didn't mean that he had romantic feelings for her ...right? They were just studying.

The phone began to vibrate madly, interrupting her out of her thoughts. A call? It was Stacie. She was probably worried since "Donald" hadn't responded to her for 20 some minutes. Unsure of what to do, Lilly forcibly pressed the red end call button. What did Donald think of her? She thought back on her time with the boy...

_"I'm not interested in her like that. I'm strictly a tutor making sure my student is prepared for her mid-term."_

_"I like how we are. It's easy to talk to you. You're not like the other girls who are only trying to get into my pants. I can just be real with you, ya'know?"_

She thought of all the girls who he had tutored before, she thought of all the girls who were after him for sex, how he constantly mentioned how glad he was that they were friends...

**We're just friends.**

Her thumb hovered over the send button. This is what Donald would say, she was sure of it. Sighing, she clicked send and let the phone fall next to her. She was exhausted. The past 30 minutes had done an emotional toll on her. Picking up the phone again, she swiped through the contact list to call her own phone, however she couldn't find her name. Many of the names in the list were nicknames. Too tired to guess who she was, she dialed her phone number and checked the screen.

**Fire Starter**

That actually was the perfect name to give her. The phone rang twice before Donald picked up. "Hey there fire starter, I thought I broke the matrix when I saw that I was getting a call from myself but then I realized we mixed up phones." He chuckled. "Where do you want to meet up?"

"At my dorm." She answered curtly. "Go through my phone and I'll cut you."

"Ha ha, alright, give me 15 minutes."

...

Lilly sat on a bench in front of her dorm. A soft breeze brushed through her hair. She closed her eyes embracing the night. Upon opening them, she spotted a boy with bouncing curly hair making his way towards her.

"Hey!" Donald smiled as he slid onto the bench next to her. "Here's your phone. I promise you, I didn't go through it."

She hesitated before the pair switched back to their original phones. Donald pocketed his while Lilly held hers in her hand. She stared into the dark empty screen. They sat in an odd silence. Confused, Donald decided to pipe up, "is... everything okay?"

"I..." She started with a whisper, then shook her head. This was something serious. She raised her voice. "You got a text message from Stacie that I responded to because I thought it was me she was messaging."

Donald was taken back from her change in volume, but he figured it was because she was confessing to the texting. "Well that must have been confusing. What'd she say?"

"She asked you, 'What do you think of Lilly?'" She watched Donald's face for a reaction. If she hadn't been concentrating she would have missed his eyes widening for a split second.

"Oh...that's weird... why would she ask that..?"

"She said that we seemed really close, so she thought that you liked me."

"Mmmm..." Donald grunted as he tilted his head skyward in thought. Similarly, Lilly turned her head forward to stare at the scenery.

"Since I hadn't responded she called your phone. I didn't know what to do, so I answered the text for you."

His head snapped back at her. "What... what did you say to her?"

Lilly closed her eyes.

"I told her, 'We're just friends'."

Silence fell between the two of them again. Lilly opened her eyes to see Donald's head tilted downwards with his eyes closed.

"I see..." He whispered softly.

"... Was... was that the right thing to say? I'm not you, so I don't know what the answer is..." Lilly took a deep breath. "Donald. What would you have said?"

She could feel her heart about to beat out of her chest. It was so loud when Donald was so quite.

"Hmm..." He opened his eyes. "I would have said the same thing."

Her heart stopped. She looked away from him. She couldn't explain it, but she felt as though her heart had deflated. But why? Up until Stacie's text she had thought of Donald as a good friend- her best friend, so why was her throat frozen now? Why was his response making her feel like this?

"It's getting late." Lilly noted softly. "... we should go to bed."

"Mmm..."

When Donald didn't get up, Lilly took initiative, forcing herself onto her feet. Donald didn't follow, so she began to turn towards her dorm's entrance.

"Lilly."

Suddenly warm arms were around her, embracing her tightly. On instinct her body punched and pulled away. Instead of whining or fake crying per usual, Donald was grinning.

"What was that! I thought I told you to not hug me without warning!" She cried out, hoping she hadn't harmed him.

"Ha ha, I know but it just got so awkward and uncomfortable, I didn't know what to do. I had to break the ice somehow."

"You're such an idiot." She found herself smiling.

"_Girl, I don't want you to go to bed mad at me_." Donald sang (Mad by Ne-yo).

Lilly shook her head. "Donald. I hope I don't eat you when I turn into a zombie."

He flashed her his smile and she felt butterflies. "If I start to turn, I'll rip my own mouth out to make sure I don't eat you."

"I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"You know it."

They parted ways.

...

A cold breeze licked the lone boy's cheeks as he walked silently through the night. Donald sighed, staring at the illuminated phone in his hand.

**We're just friends.**

He read it over and over until the words were unintelligible blobs of letter soup in his mind. These words on his phone. That was what Lilly thought of him, wasn't it? Otherwise, she wouldn't have said that... right? His legs felt heavy but he continued to walk.

_"What would you have said?"_ Her voice echoed a hundred times over. He wanted to say that she made his heart beat like crazy, that he couldn't function properly if he didn't talk to her at least once a day, that he would have taken every punch and all the pain in the world just to stand next to her.

But...

**We're just friends.**

It would have been awkward to admit all of that if she didn't feel the same way. At least their friendship was still intact. He paused. His heart was telling him to be with her while his mind told him not to risk it. Sharply, he turned around. He should listen to his heart- that's what every romantic movie he'd seen and every love song he'd heard kept saying. He was going to confess. He'd tell her everything and she'd...

He looked at his phone again. The words were burning him. She... What if she rejected him? Would they still be able to study together? Would they still be friends or would something feel off? He only had a few days left on campus, could he really afford to lose his last days with her? It would kill him. Slowly, he swiveled his heel towards a random direction. Any direction would do. Any direction but towards her. An inevitable wandering to keep his mind off of her. It's no big deal. He didn't care. He was glad that they were still just friends...

Lilly couldn't sleep. She laid wide awake staring at the ceiling. The moon was too bright tonight... yeah, that was what was keeping her awake. That and her roommate hadn't come back yet, so she was staying up to wait for her to come back... that was it. That was why she was still awake... If that was true, then why was her heart beating painfully against her chest? Frustrated, she raised her palms to her face to rub her eyes. Her eyes... her eyes were wet? She was crying... But why?

Donald halted in his step. His heart was beating too fast. Suddenly he couldn't catch his breath. Shit. He was hyperventilating. "Shit." He breathed dryly. "Shit!" He was losing it. Panicked, he leaned himself against a nearby tree, attempting to take deep breaths.

Lilly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, but the tears wouldn't stop falling. No matter how many times she pushed them away, more kept falling from her eyes. Her throat was tight, her chest felt cold. Emotions overwhelmed her like a tidal wave. Unable to hold anymore back, she screamed into her pillow.

"Shit!" Donald yelled, punching the tree that was supporting him. His knuckles bled but he was too numb to feel it. Desperate to feel again he screamed towards the stars.

They screamed. They let it all out. Every emotion of sadness and love that was locked inside of them resonated and rebounded in vain against the empty night sky.

Tears flooded freely from his eyes. He screamed until his voice was hoarse and dry.

She sobbed uncontrollably, breathing in salty tears as the same question pounded through her head.

_Why doesn't Donald feel the same?_

"Why doesn't Lilly feel the same?" His voice was like smoke disappearing on his breath. He stared questioningly at the universe, it only stared back with an expressionless face.

Their feelings were unbearable. The weight of the world was crushing them. Donald didn't want to lose Lilly, Lilly didn't want to lose Donald. So they locked their feelings in the deepest corners of their hearts and let their cold tears dry on their numb faces. All they had to do was just be friends.

Maybe then their heats would stop throbbing.

**...**

**End of chapter. **

**Author's Notes:**

**Hope it didn't get too sappy there.**

**There were so many times where I stopped what I was writing and had Donald run back to Lilly's dorm and yell out his confession to her window...**

**ICCA finals was tough write, I really didn't like rewriting something straight from the movie.**

**Don't know when next update will be... ha ha**


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